Report: Adam McQuaid, Dennis Seidenberg begin skating

On Tuesday, injured Bruins defensemen Dennis Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid skated at Ristuccia Arena, according to a report in the Boston Herald.

By Dan CagenDaily News staff

On Tuesday, injured Bruins defensemen Dennis Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid skated at Ristuccia Arena, according to a report in the Boston Herald.

Seidenberg reportedly skated for about 15 minutes. The veteran is now 13 weeks removed from Jan. 7 surgery to repair the right ACL he tore Dec. 27.

Originally projected to miss 6-8 months after the torn ACL and MCL, the Bruins have not ruled out that Seidenberg could return by the latter stages of the playoffs. The team has admitted that's an unlikely outcome, however.

With the length of Seidenberg's absence, the Bruins may not want to put him back in game action over players that are in playoff mode and at that point will have likely contributed to a deep run. But just for Seidenberg's leg to support his body so soon is remarkable.

McQuaid hasn't played since Jan. 19. He had a setback while skating during the Olympic break and hadn't been on the ice since. On March 5, the Bruins announced they would shut McQuaid down for 2-3 weeks, so based on the Herald report, McQuaid took over a month to get back in skates.

It would be unlikely that McQuaid could return in time for Game 1 of the playoffs next Thursday, and there's no guarantee that McQuaid will even play should he be cleared. Dougie Hamilton and Johnny Boychuk are entrenched as the top two right-shot defensemen, and Kevan Miller has done nothing to be taken out of the rotation.